Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Maybe my most cynical post yet, inspired by Huggies

If Hugs were, in fact, "the best cure of all," they would be covered in the United States by gold-plated insurance plans affordable only to the one percent. For the rest of us, they would be sold in tiny quantities at ruinous prices at your local pharmacy, and available only through a prescription provided by a specialist you can't afford to see unless- you guessed it- you've got that gold-plated insurance plan. The government would be forbidden by law to negotiate the price of Hugs, and they would NOT be part of any basic health coverage because the Supreme Court ruled otherwise in the case of Hobby Lobby v. Humanity.

Or, of course, you could just head over to England and get your Hugs over the counter from the local apothecary, paid for by the shared tax burden of your fellow citizens because after all, we're all in this together. (In Europe. Here in the United States, we're only all in this together when caught in a traffic jam. When it comes to health "insurance," it's every Group or Individual for Himself.)

And if I try to access Hugs at my workplace without a prescription, I'm going to be arrested and fired. There's something wrong here.

This reminds me of those memes that say that all you need to stay healthy is fresh air, a good diet, exercise, and a positive attitude. None of that is going to cure your cancer or unclog your arteries or get rid of your multiple sclerosis. So please, enough with the woo. Let's be honest about what people need to live happily and healthily. One of those things is health care. Health care that doesn't bankrupt them.